A few days ago a friend and I hit a couple of Walmarts to see what their Lego inventory looked like. Bleak and a lot of empty shelf space. But there was a Battle of Endor set and a few other big ones. On further inspection, most of the remaining sets looked either damaged or tampered with. Some had store tape to seal the boxes. I'm assuming that people would not want to take the chance on paying $100 for a set, or even $10, to find it was missing figs or pieces when they opened it at home. And I'd HATE to be in the position of returning it and explaining--honestly, even--to the clerk that it was someone else that stole pieces.

Why aren't all sets glue sealed? The tape is way to easy to get past. I even worry about buying sets from Ebay that some of that "shelf wear" might be to disguise a tampered box. I can't see it as a cost cutting measure, since in the end, I'd think that the returned product would be pretty significant as opposed to sealed boxes. Or is that the point, that the store people can just tape the boxes closed again and sell them? I'd understand that a ripped box is a deal breaker for the majority of people, regardless of the popularity of a set.

I'm pretty sure this has been asked and answered elsewhere, and from what I recall it was in fact a cost cutting measure.

Also, while obviously less secure on a box to box basis, tape seals makes it easier to avoid potentially buying a set that has been tampered with. Glued flaps can be cut with a blade, contents replaced with junk, re-glued, and it will look identical to a normal box. Tape seals on the other are rather obvious if tampered with.

My advice? Don't ever buy a set with a suspicious looking seal and go home to make sure. Instead take it to the customer service desk, tell them you think it's been tampered with, and (if it was the one available) ask them to check for any more in stock. If there's another - great! Buy that one. If not - you can just pay for it at the cust. service desk, open it in front of them, and if it's missing anything you can get a refund on the spot.

Thank ya, sir, I did try a few things in the search box but came up empty if the question was discussed/answered before. I apologize if it was and I didn't find it.

I didn't think about the secondary market, for people on Ebay slicing the glue seals. Or people buying and taking them home from the stores, getting around the glue and then hitting the store for a return-minus key items.

So you think they made the boxes easier to tamper with in stores to prevent people from buying tampered boxes? Sounds like a vicious circle going on

Solo wrote:Also, while obviously less secure on a box to box basis, tape seals makes it easier to avoid potentially buying a set that has been tampered with. Glued flaps can be cut with a blade, contents replaced with junk, re-glued, and it will look identical to a normal box. Tape seals on the other are rather obvious if tampered with.

Even if TLC decided to use glue people could still tamper the sets, just bring a exacto knife, and cut the glue. It would just be harder to make it look untampered with. Also I noticed that Lego tape is different than normal scotch tape.

Alexandra , sleeping sand, silent cloud, touch meSo I sing a song of love, Alexandra Hum hum hum...calls meSo I sing a song of love for Alexandra, Alexandra, Alexandra

zithy wrote:And I'd HATE to be in the position of returning it and explaining--honestly, even--to the clerk that it was someone else that stole pieces.

I had that experience. I bought a fire station set on clearance.

When I opened the box, it was filled with trash and some assorted knock-off brand pieces. I presume now that someone originally bought it, took all the parts out, put the trash in to give some bulk and the pieces to make the sound, sealed the box and then returned the set.

The box seemed fine but the Lego rattle sounded off. I did a quick check to see if the glue seals were intact. And was in a hurry, so I didn't really stop to think about the sound much until I got it home. Which brings me to the packaging...

This was prior to extensive tape use by TLC. This box had been opened and re-glued with a much stronger glue. And because it was glued, I felt better about buying it.

So while the tape makes it easier to tamper with a set, it also makes the tampering more apparent. Because you can see the altered tape.

Steve

P.S. I did get my money back, but only after a long conversation with the store manager about how I didn't open the box at home and fill it with a bunch of trash.

Last week I bought two Battle of Endor sets, at two different stores, and ended up with the exact same problem: In both cases, the #1 bags and all figures were stolen from the set. One was glued, the other taped, and neither showed evidence of being tampered with it. Luckily, I got no flak trying to return them, and just went online to get it from Walmart.com. 2 day shipping (oddly cheaper than ground), now in the middle of building it.

dWhisper wrote:Last week I bought two Battle of Endor sets, at two different stores, and ended up with the exact same problem: In both cases, the #1 bags and all figures were stolen from the set. One was glued, the other taped, and neither showed evidence of being tampered with it. Luckily, I got no flak trying to return them, and just went online to get it from Walmart.com. 2 day shipping (oddly cheaper than ground), now in the middle of building it.

It's been quite a while since I've done anything like this, but it's served me well in the past (even at places like Toys R Us).

If you happen to come across a box that has been damaged and repaired immediately find a manager. Providing he/she is not too busy or just a complete d-bag, you can often times get him/her to stand by while you inventory the set. If significant parts are missing, it's even likely they'll sell it to you discounted.

Some years back I was able to grab an RCX 2.0 Mindstorms set with most of the pieces gone (but the RCX brick still intact) for 65% off at Toys R Us.